This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The captors of a Washington County man whose body was found decomposed beyond recognition nearly two months after was reported missing allegedly left him alive in the Arizona desert, a newly unsealed warrant says.
Francis Lee McCard told Kelley Marie Perry and Tammy Renee Freeman that he had left David Corey Heisler "out in the desert approximately 40 miles from St. George" and that "[Heisler] was alive when [McCard] last saw him," according to the warrant that was unsealed Tuesday.
Heisler was reported missing June 27, court documents state, allegedly kidnapped over a child custody dispute. Heisler had been awarded sole custody of his and Perry's 6-year-old daughter two weeks before, court documents state.
Freeman, 54 — who rents rooms in her Washington house to McCard, 55, and Perry, 31 — drove them to Heisler's house June 27, documents say, and Perry and McCard forced Heisler, 30, into his car. They drove to a location near the Utah-Arizona border, where Perry got out of the car.
McCard drove Heisler away and called to be picked up in Beaver Dam, Ariz., about an hour later, a document says.
Authorities found Heisler's car July 1 in Beaver Dam, an unincorporated community in Mohave County, Ariz., and located his body on the Arizona Strip on Aug. 18.
McCard, Perry and Freeman were charged in July in 5th District Court with first-degree-felony counts of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, as well as car theft, a second-degree felony.
McCard entered not-guilty pleas on all counts at his arraignment Sept. 6 and is scheduled for a review hearing Oct. 11.
Freeman is scheduled for a review hearing Wednesday.
Deputy Washington County Attorney Zachary Weiland told The Salt Lake Tribune on Aug. 19 that prosecutors were considering adding homicide charges, but officials were considering whether those counts would be filed in Utah, Arizona or in a federal court.
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